School tax increase equals Scott’s other tax cuts

TAMPA ­­— Gov. Rick Scott will bring his re-election campaign to Tampa on Tuesday to tout a new state budget with $574 million in increased education spending along with $500 million in tax cuts.

What Scott isn’t mentioning is that while the new budget cuts some taxes, it includes an increase of almost as much, $400 million, in the property taxes the state requires local governments to impose to help fund public schools.

Responding to those numbers, Scott’s likely Democratic opponent, former Gov. Charlie Crist, on Monday accused Scott of a fraud against taxpayers.

“He did it by raising property taxes $400 million,” Crist told reporters in Miami. “That’s unbelieveable. That’s the last thing we need to be doing.”